Mount Evelyn DX Report

  Public radio reaches power-deprived areas  in Brazil’s South Battery-operated radios re-emerge in flood-stricken Rio Grande do Sul Many readers will be familiar with Radio Nacional Amazônia on 6180 and 11780 kHz. This is one of eight stations (the others in the group are AM and FM broadcasters) belonging to Empresa Brasil de Comunicação (EBC), a Brazilian public broadcasting state-owned company created in 2007. I found the interesting article below a wonderful example of why we need to keep our national and private radio services going for the public good in times of disaster. My thanks to Agência Brasil  for permission to reproduce this article and to Fabrício Ferreira for the translation into English. A device many believe to be outdated has regained its vital role amid the floods that have wreaked havoc on hundreds of cities in Rio Grande do Sul, South Brazil. Following power outages and the loss of internet signals, a large portion of the state’s populatio...

  DX QUICK TIPS May 26, 2024 As some readers will be aware, the last year has been eventful for me, with five hospital admissions. Now, I am in the middle of almost daily radiation treatment for prostate cancer. There are a few side effects, the biggest being fatigue as the body tries to repair itself after each radiation session. So, that has resulted in me being home and enjoying time in front of my radios in both shortwave listening and activity on the amateur bands. As we approach winter here in southeastern Australia, a number of interesting shortwave broadcast stations have appeared. Here is a list of what has been heard in the past  few weeks: RECEIVERS : Yaesu FTDX3000, Kenwood TS2000, Kenwood R5000 ANTENNAS :  Horizontal Sky Loop 80m long, 10 MHz Delta Loop, 14 MHz Double Bazooka, 5/8 wave centre-fed vertical for 21-30 MHz. (All times are in UTC, all frequencies in kHz) 3310   BOLIVIA. R. Mosoj Chaski - Cotapachi, Cochabamba. 1035 Weak signal in Spanish (de...

On top of the hill near the little town of Coldstream in the latter part of the evening. The aurora was waning, allowing me to capture a little of the Milky Way.   WHAT IS THIS AURORA THING YOU SPEAK OF? by Rob Wagner VK3BVW Along with my radio interests, I am also an enthusiastic photographer and the President of the Yarra Ranges Photographic Society (YRPS). The following article will appear in the Society's June newsletter. I thought there may be some readers of this blog who are also photographers, so I am also sharing a slightly edited version here. Yes, it focuses on Aurora Australis for southern hemisphere readers, but much of the information here is also applicable to northern hemisphere readers. All the photographs featured here were taken by myself on May 11, 2024. Click on each photo for a closer view. You may have noticed that I have included my amateur radio (a.k.a. “Ham radio”) call sign alongside my name as the author of this article. That’s because I have been an act...

RETRO RECEIVER REVIEW #21 (You can click on all photos in this article for a close-up view) KENWOOD R-5000 Performance and Innovation by ROB WAGNER VK3BVW This extended blog post first appeared as a feature article in the February 2024 issue of The Spectrum Monitor magazine. Further details on this excellent publication are available at www.thespectrummonitor.com I have always wanted to own a Kenwood R-5000 receiver. Perhaps I was dazzled by the mystique that appeared to surround this rig. Somehow, it had always been on top of my bucket list of pre-loved rigs that I wanted sitting on the desk of the radio shack.  Finally, one showed up at a local Sunday morning Hamfest, and I happened to have just enough dollars in my pocket to make a purchase. It appeared to have lived a hard life. The case looked knocked around and was pretty dirty inside and out. So, while I would have liked to have owned a unit in better condition, the price was right, and I decided to take it on as a l...